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Luis Alfonso Marroquin He became a soccer coach by vocation and inertia, not to be left out of this sport after suffering a meniscus injury that ended his career as a soccer player. His time with the Colombian youth team was inexplicably short for everything he achieved.
Not only did he obtain the first qualification to a World Cup of the category, in 1985, but he also helped establish a player base and above all, a way of playing that would lead, five years after his passage, to Colombia returned to a World Cup after 28 years. Marroquin He died in his beloved Antioquia, specifically in Medellín, this Wednesday, at the age of 72.
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Marroquín was a trainer, he was a father and above all, he was very frank in saying things. But before, he was a promising midfielder, who had to fight against the taste of his father, who did not want him to be a footballer: although his father was a fan of National, he wanted him to go hunting and fishing. He was opposed in two things: first, he was a Medellín fan, and second, he continued in football.
He started in baby soccer in Bello, at the beginning of the 60’s. He played in the team of the Liceo Antioqueño, in the University of Antioquia, in Fabricato and in Pantex, and then, in 1967, Francisco ‘Cobo’ Zuluaga, who was an assistant to Nestor Raúl Rossi, I was going to take it to Millionaires This said Marroquín del ‘Cobo’:
I saw the ‘Cobo’ arrive driving a Porsche, well dressed, with very elegant jackets. When I grow up I’m going to dress like him, he told me
After his injury, he began to train, empirically, the National Railways team. But then he started studying at the College of Coaches of Antioquia (Cefan), a project that helped set up the Chilean Gaston Moraga, extraordinary physical trainer who later worked with the doctor Gabriel Ochoa at America from Cali. He directed intercollegiate, won degrees with the University of Antioquia and in 1981 they named him DT of the Selection of that department. An unforgettable process was beginning.
His work began to transcend so much that he was an assistant to Efraín ‘Cayman’ Sánchez in the Colombia selection who played the 1983 America’s Cup, and later, the doctor Gabriel Ochoa Uribe also integrated him to his technical body. But the most important thing was when Leon Londoño, President of the Colombian Football Federation, lor appointed coach of the Youth Team.
There weren’t high expectations with that team. Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay brought players with a lot of professional experience to that tournament. In his call, the one with the most games played was John Edison Brown: 15 games with Deportivo Pereira. Then, Marroquín took the base of the Antioquia Selection that he directed and added pieces in the positions that he considered were not so strong.
He led an archer, René Higuita, to whom he insisted that he should play well with his feet, something he learned from watching Amadeo Carrizo. They were also of his Selection Edison Alvarez, the right side; Carlos Alvarez, front-line steering wheel, and from the middle forwards, James Rodriguez (the father of current ’10’ of the Selection), Felipe Perez and John Jairo Tréllez. And he added two centrals, Alvaro Nunez and John Córdoba; a left side, Jairo Ampudia, and a bulldog in the middle of the court, Romeiro Hurtado.
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The team shone in the South American in Paraguay. And in that group, Marroquín applied many of his ideas, on and off the court. His teams always wore ties. He taught them to behave, to speak on the radio, to give interviews on television. On the recommendation of ‘Caimán’ Sánchez, he trained when there was no sun, so the team would appear on the training court at 6 am and when they did double shifts, they would return when night fell.
He was disciplined, but had the intelligence to handle tough situations. The team was concentrated in Bogotá and the hotel menu on Sundays was the same, ajiaco. René Higuita didn’t like it. Marroquín noticed and made a deal with the hotel cook. In front of the group, he scolded him: “If he is going to stay without eating, then he will not eat.” But I already had everything coordinated so that René had another meal prepared for him: he ate in the kitchen.
But Marroquín was also very frank when he had to say something he didn’t like. The author of this book suffered: after the elimination of Colombia from the 2006 World Cup in Germany, EL TIEMPO made a report on what was happening with Colombian football, which was already suffering its second consecutive failure. Marroquín was very tough: “Look, sir: if at the time you weren’t part of the solution, now don’t come and make me part of the problem,” he said. And dropped the phone.
In the World Cup, the team overcame the first round by drawing, after equaling in points with Hungary, a rival with whom, in the first match, they had drawn 2-2 after losing 2-0 in the 88th minute. “That was a miracle”, remembered. Then he had to face Brazil in the second round. In the first half, they tied 0-0. Marroquín recalled that he failed that day and was filled with pride. “Little Coca Cola drinkers,” he told them in the dressing room, confused. They lost 6-0.
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Upon his return from the Soviet Union, host of that tournament (they played in Yerevan, now Armenia), Millonarios hired him with the idea of putting together a project of smaller divisions equal to those seen in Europe. They even sent him there to train. But the idea was cut short after the death of the club’s president, Edmer Tamayo Marín, in January 1986. Marroquín fell into a deep depression and rejected many offers. He never wanted to coach in professional football.
He returned to his beloved Antioquia, where he set up a soccer school that had to close in 2009. But until his death he remained a benchmark for what he accomplished, for what he taught, and for the legacy he left.
Jose Orlando Ascencio
Sports Deputy Editor
Taken from the book ‘The best coaches in Colombian football’ (Middle Editors, 2019)
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